Education & Reference The "going into uni" thread

[Hap Hapablap]

Apologies guys, we ran out of class time so I had to hurry and press "create" and seeing as they took the liberty in describing my love for male genitals in the original thread post you can see why I had to rush this.

The questions we are more specifically asking are what are the differences between diplomas, advanced diplomas, majors and honours? Are there alternative pathways to get into courses that you didn't achieve a high enough ATAR for? Is year 12 the be all and end all? What are the major differences/similarities associated with school and university?

Thanks guys.

diplomas and advanced diplomas are usually part of post graduate studies (are awared due to averages), major is the course youll be majoring in and honours are also awarded by academic performance. what you will receive at the end of your undergraduate degree is a bachelor.

not sure about the eastern states but here in WA there are some unis that provide bridging courses to help out as well as colleges that can help you to get the ATAR required to enter without the stress and strain of year 12. however my advice. hammer it out in year 11 and 12 and everything else should get sweeter.

studies are laidback as long as you dont mind independent study. thats not to say no one will help you out and such but i would also strongly recommend to making a study group in your course and befriending a few. that way youre always in the loop for any changes if you miss anything and also makes it enjoyable. from what ive heard, engineering and such mostly everyones laidback and glad to help, in the medical/law areas its very different people are extremely competitive and actually can be snobby.

good thing about uni is if you choose a course and you dont like it you can always change. just you need to get in first.

also you dont do a 8-5 everyday at uni. you get half days or no days at all, lectures arent entirely complusory (although i believe some have begun taking attendances with tutes too). lectures can also be available online and the environment (again depending on what course as mentioned earlier) is far more lax than school. the competition and stress of year 11 and year 12 nearly killed me but once over that hump its happy days as long as you dont spend countless hours at the tav doing absolutely nothing. moderation is the key.

thats 6 years of uni experience thrown there for you mate hope it helps.

 

[fairdinkum]

A guy I know came back 15kg heavier than when he left.

I hope that was a 12-month exchange and not just a single semester. 15kgs in 5/6 months would surely leave stretch marks all over the joint.

I'm interested in this comment though. Can you expand on it?

This probably isn't the thread for it, but if somebody starts/bumps a 'Uni Exchange' thread I might wander in and lay down a couple of cents.

 

[deeman12]

p

I hope that was a 12-month exchange and not just a single semester. 15kgs in 5/6 months would surely leave stretch marks all over the joint.



This probably isn't the thread for it, but if somebody starts/bumps a 'Uni Exchange' thread I might wander in and lay down a couple of cents.

He went to America. Fair to say he really embraced the American eating-culture.

I've bumped a thread on the lifestyle board. Any insights would be great.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I am in my final year of a double degree and have not attended or listened to a lecture since 2009....uni is defiantly easier than year 12 if you know how to take shortcuts and you are a doing a generalist degree such as Arts, Commerce and even Law.

There are a lot of hot birds around campus and in some tutes if you do Arts or Law and to a lesser extent Commerce. I once ate a chick out in the disabled toilets next to the library.

Woah woah woah woah woah.

So far, uni has been relatively boring so far. I'm more interested in actually getting some work, just because I am so bored.

Once I start befriending more people, and enhancing my relationships, It'll be good fun.

 

[crowsarethebest]

In my opinion Uni is harder. High school.. i guess is more competitive, all you're doing is trying to do better than everyone else. But content wise, you don't actually really learn it, once your done with the exam then you don't need it anymore really. With Uni you actually have to understand what's being taught, understand the concepts etc, if you don't you'll struggle. As others have alluded to things are taught at a frenetic pace at uni. If you fall behind... you won't catch up.

 

[JHF1870]

I'm currently doing a briding course to get into uni next semester/2013. Its nothing like school, you are more independent. If you need help you must seek it. Discipline is the key, if you don't have it you might struggle. I'm already noticing in this course many people around me are not even getting the basic homework done on time. I'm so glad I chose the bridging course over the stat test, as it has given me a solid understanding of what academic writing is all about and what I need to work on prior to entering uni. I'm at the point where I just want the next 8 months to hurry up.

 

[Silent Alarm]

In my opinion Uni is harder. High school.. i guess is more competitive, all you're doing is trying to do better than everyone else. But content wise, you don't actually really learn it, once your done with the exam then you don't need it anymore really. With Uni you actually have to understand what's being taught, understand the concepts etc, if you don't you'll struggle. As others have alluded to things are taught at a frenetic pace at uni. If you fall behind... you won't catch up.

The thing is, and I've realised this after only a month, you should be enjoying your course.

Regardless of the difficulty of the course, you've signed up for it. If you're doing medicine, you're wanting to do it. You might have an absolute passion for your field, the allure of saving lives might be great, or the cash might be the drawing card – regardless, there's a real sense of necessity.

At high school, that doesn't exist. I liked one subject. I saw purpose in one subject. The other three were peripheral. When you're sat doing an Economics exam, when your passion lays in English, you're thought process is not unlike "there is no point of me being here".

And that's probably the most reassuring thing about uni. I mean, I'm finding it a little more difficult. But I feel like I'm learning a little bit.

Harder, yes; More of a chore, no.

 

[cats81]

The thing is, and I've realised this after only a month, you should be enjoying your course.

Regardless of the difficulty of the course, you've signed up for it. If you're doing medicine, you're wanting to do it. You might have an absolute passion for your field, the allure of saving lives might be great, or the cash might be the drawing card – regardless, there's a real sense of necessity.

At high school, that doesn't exist. I liked one subject. I saw purpose in one subject. The other three were peripheral. When you're sat doing an Economics exam, when your passion lays in English, you're thought process is not unlike "there is no point of me being here".

And that's probably the most reassuring thing about uni. I mean, I'm finding it a little more difficult. But I feel like I'm learning a little bit.

Harder, yes; More of a chore, no.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I don't get it...

 

[cats81]

1. www.google.com.au/imghp
2. Type in 'uber frosh'
3. ???
4. Profit

 

[half_back_flank]

I laughed, uncanny similarities.

 

[kBuck]

I've found Uni to be a fair bit easier than highschool. Probably because I'm more interested in my uni stuff.

+1 for the hot birds around campus!

 

[Silent Alarm]

I am laughing at uber frosh. I'll accept that.

To be honest, I don't think I'm being that weird...

 

[half_back_flank]

You're not being weird, just incredibly knowledgable for a person whose been at uni for all of a week.

 

[woopedazz]

 

[fairdinkum]

Obvious problem with that 'meme' is that students from all faculties tend to have part-time jobs while studying.

If the person who concocted that 'meme' were a little smarter, they would have written 'graduates' rather than 'students'.

Restart and try again.

 

[cats81]

I have learnt much more from my Arts subjects than Commerce or Law but it is very true that it is much harder to find a good graduate position with just an Arts degree

 

[Stretford End]

 

[woopedazz]

Obvious problem with that 'meme' is that students from all faculties tend to have part-time jobs while studying.

If the person who concocted that 'meme' were a little smarter, they would have written 'graduates' rather than 'students'.

Restart and try again.

How's that oil painting working out for you? Can you fit it in with all your Macca's shifts with the 6 year olds?

 

[Speck]

As someone who's three weeks in, it's certainly different than high school.

It's laid back but more serious - in that you have to keep your focus otherwise you'll fall behind. The pace you go through work is ridiculous - 3 weeks into an accounting subject and we've covered a semesters VCE work.

So far I've had it easy with 90% of the work and concepts having been covered in my VCE subjects.

 

[The_Reaper]

As someone who's three weeks in, it's certainly different than high school.

It's laid back but more serious - in that you have to keep your focus otherwise you'll fall behind. The pace you go through work is ridiculous - 3 weeks into an accounting subject and we've covered a semesters VCE work.

So far I've had it easy with 90% of the work and concepts having been covered in my VCE subjects.

30 minutes into my first statistics lecture at uni we had covered the entire year 12 course.

It's more than high school teaches you so slowly and such basic stuff.

 

[entourage]

The second one is spot on

 

[Ed_Gein]

Sorry to bump, but am doing some Open Uni stuff and....

Whats the general consensus on sharing results? Haven't studied since leaving high school, but am doing an Open Uni course and have joined Facebook groups with people doing the same course. The topic of sharing 'exam results' came up it has come to the conclusion that we're not allowed to do so because it can be 'demoralizing' for the ones in the group that didn't get a good result.

If you ask me, you get what you put into it, if you don't study etc.... you're going to get a shit result and you're the only one to blame? Why should that stop others posting their result if they want to?

 

[Benno_900]

In my opinion Uni is harder. High school.. i guess is more competitive, all you're doing is trying to do better than everyone else. But content wise, you don't actually really learn it, once your done with the exam then you don't need it anymore really. With Uni you actually have to understand what's being taught, understand the concepts etc, if you don't you'll struggle. As others have alluded to things are taught at a frenetic pace at uni. If you fall behind... you won't catch up.

Depends on the degree but not necessarily true. Even prerequisite content get repeated in latter subjects.

In fact in one 3rd year subject, we had this lecturer who believed that the education system was flawed because students would only study for exams and forget it the next year.

To counter that - she would only supply very basic lecture notes, no textbook and force us to understand all the formulas (she wouldn't supply it anywhere).

Half of the final exam ended up asking us to derive the formulas to use. Quite clever and it seemed an effective teaching method, but it was obvious she left out a lot of stuff as the content seemed bare thin.

 

[Poseidon]

Hahahhahah this is real life.

Also "can't find a decent parking space....take day off"

Seriously though, with Uni, the most important thing is to be self-motivated. That was the biggest change for me. No more teachers hounding you or kicking your arse for not doing your homework and all that, it's completely up to you.